


Down with the Empire

by shybagels



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: //winkity wonk, A+ for effort, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Medieval, Assassins!, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Both sexual AND romantic, But I do what I want, But there's still technology, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fingergunning, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), He's just super gay, Hurt/Comfort, I mean just a few years up, I mean like the pining is gonna have us all frustratedly screaming, Injury, It's kinda dodgy, Keith is just being Keith, Like the slowest of all burns, M/M, Magic, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Slow Burn, Swords & Sorcery, There's magic!, This is all one big mess, Torture, Unbeta'd I repeat UNBETA'D, Unless I feel like going from 0 to 100, Unresolved Tension, Whoop de doo I love doing tags, but i'm trying, i mean kinda, not that much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-03 08:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13337421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shybagels/pseuds/shybagels
Summary: "Let’s overthrow the emperor together, shall we?"All Lance ever wanted in life was to live quietly and perhaps one day maybe even get together with someone and eventually start a family. Y'know all that stupid cliché stuff that his mother used to read him from the fairytales. What he neither expected nor wanted was to be dragged into helping run the Voltron rebellion, led by a certain princess who was supposed to be dead like ten years ago. He also had much bigger things on his plate, that didn't involve political intrigue, death and the fact that he was now the proud owner of one overly large magical cat- namely that one hot assassin with the mullet and the killer thighs. Would some peace and quiet be too much to ask for?Tl;dr Lance is thissss close to just going around and magicking everyone to kingdom come





	1. This was not what I had in mind

**Author's Note:**

> Potentially OOC characters and incorrect lore. Haha. What? Me? No way. 
> 
> But seriously guys, this plot does have elements of the original one but uh, I like to throw things into one big gigantic mess. 
> 
> I'm trying my best. //sobs 
> 
> Enjoy~

This was not what Lance had planned to do when he’d first decided to set foot outside his house.

Not even close to it at all.

Gods and Goddesses above, what he had simply wanted was to go down to the market, browse the wares put on display, barter for food with what meagre amount of money he had at his disposal. Perhaps, given the chance, he would have spent a bit of his time flirting with the various ladies or gentlemen that meandered past him, if lucky, he might’ve even gotten a bit of a reward for his efforts, a smile, badly concealed by a fan or hand or maybe even a flutter of eyelashes or an amused eye roll of sorts, proof of the impact of his sweet talking.

  
If anything, he managed something akin to his original plan, having already scored a bag of bread and a couple of fruit. His luck seemed to be shining upon him because he spotted a very beautiful lady, she was different from the type that he usual spotted in the marketplace. White hair neatly braided and cascading down her back, as she turned in his direction, he spotted an aristocratic face, the winsomeness she exuded only seemed to become further emphasised by the rabble that surrounded her. If he hadn’t been gawking before, he was doing so now. It had taken a while for him to muster up courage, but when he did, he’d liked to at least think that he looked dashing as introduced himself to her,

“Lance McClain, proudly at your service. If I may enquire as to whether or not the goddess in mortal form has a name?”

That’s as far as he’d gotten. Now, it wasn’t due to his lack of skill in seduction, should he say so himself, it was more on because of the sudden appearance of Hunk, arguing against what seemed to be increasingly angry guards. That was completely unfair. His best friend, was the more level-headed one between the both of them if anyone was being honest, like, the guy had talked him out of attempting a leap of faith off the kingdom wall battlements when they had been teenagers. His idea to do so had been stupid and life threatening, but after all, Lance was practically the king of ideas that were stupid and life threatening- so why the frikkity frack was Hunk doing something so Lance-esque? He was flattered. But come on. It wasn’t until he spotted the cowering child behind his friend that he realised what the situation was, that and the shouting match that was currently happening in front of his eyes.

“I’m really sorry. My presence is needed elsewhere-“

As much as he wanted to pretend otherwise, he had a moral code he needed to adhere to. ‘Guys before pretty ladies with what seemed to be killer thighs.’ Goddammit, he was really going to hate himself for doing this later. Lance quickly bowed before running over, just in time, to pull back both Hunk and the sobbing kid from being cleaved in half by a very big broadsword. He held up one hand, in some sort of near desperate attempt to at least hinder the man from swinging his swords again.  


“Guards. Guards. Don’t you thing you’re being a little too hasty?” He reasoned, gesturing to the still sobbing boy, “He’s just a kid. An innocent street kid. There’s no point in murdering him. No glory at all. What say you let him go?“ He was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and hefted up by the leader of the guards, flinching back as he smelt the man’s breath, “Uh, y’know there’s a stall down the street where you can get breath freshener. I’m pretty sure they would give you a discount-“

His words were abruptly cut off, as he was lifted upwards, hands coming to relieve the pressure forming at his throat. As he did so, the guard began to talk, “This child was caught stealing from a stall. It is under the law of emperor Zarkon that all caught stealing shall be executed.”

There was a choked off sob from the boy, who was now shaking, face buried in Hunk’s tunic. Said owner of tunic was already stepping forward, eyes ablaze and ready to mouth off against the people who had not just upset a child but had had the audacity to hurt his best friend. He had to shake his head and try and subtly hint for the other man to get ready to grab the kid and run at his signal. It was thanks to what must’ve been a telepathic connection forged from years of troublemaking that had Hunk understanding what he meant. He sighed in relief as his friend backed off, glancing back at the guard who didn’t even look near to even loosening the grip he had around his collar.

“Now, now, gentlemen. Surely I could just pay for the child and have him go on his merry way? That way we shouldn’t have to go to such extremities. I mean, with such exquisite tastes that you obviously have, you wouldn’t want to have to stain your hands with blood so early in the morning?” He was laying it on think, he knew that, but he needed to get all their focus on him in order for this plan to work. He didn’t have any unlikely allies in the crowd and were very much outnumbered.

“The little rat stole. The point is that he be punished in order for him to learn a lesson. Besides, it’s been a while since we’ve had a good beheading.” That had elicited a couple of laughs from the guards behind him.

Lance had to resist the urge to punch the guy in the face after what had been said. Getting angry would achieve nothing, but he still had to do something to save them from this mess. Magic was something that he sort of excelled in, but he didn’t like having to showcase it so publicly, being a mage was illegal after all. But, the time really called for it. So, as he smiled at the guard and continued to reason with him, he began to slowly trace out a magic circle on the guard’s gloved hands with the dust and dirt that had accumulated on his sleeves. Disgusting and completely unorthodox, yes, he could already tell that the spell was either going to be spectacularly overpowered or pathetically underpowered, but he was really praying for it be the former.

“Well, technically he wouldn’t learn if a lesson if he was dead afterwards, but what do I know? Would it at least help if I said that I would add an extra bit of moolah to line your pockets?” To emphasise his point he rubbed his fingers together before adding, “I’ve heard that it is quite efficient in causing mass amnesia amongst guards such as yourselves- NOW!”

With that, the spell burst forth, it started off as a mere trickle, his insides coiled tightly, the bewildered look of the guards followed by their hooting laughter, had incurred thoughts of how he’d just condoned the three of them to death. His doubt was soon squashed as the trickle suddenly burst into a more violent spurt, in the leader’s surprise, he’d been unceremoniously dropped to the ground. The whole thing turned into something more overpowered then he’d expected, the water was getting absolutely everywhere. It was as if some geyser had suddenly sprinted to life. He couldn’t help his own laugh that bubbled up from his throat as he watched the group of them stumble around.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the show because the size of the magic circle meant that it would only last thirty seconds or so. Without another word, he and Hunk, the kid haphazardly flung over the larger man’s back, as they began to run for it. He couldn’t help but glance back at where the pretty lady had been standing, surprised to find that she was staring right back at him. He didn’t have time to question it as the guards had already started to regain themselves. By this time, they’d already established a sizeable distance between them, but it hadn’t stopped the group from pursuing them.

It soon became a battle of leaping in between rooftops. In order to level the playing field, Lance stopped every few metres or so to draw out another circle to spew out some spell that would at least stall the guards momentarily. As they ran, he couldn’t help but throw a look at Hunk. Whenever he’d ever pulled off something stupid, his friend had always given him a look, that certified mum-look-of-I’m-not-impressed-with-the-shit-that-you-just-pulled™. But now, now it was finally his turn to do so, and he was going to milk this situation for all of its worth.

“Whatever happened to playing it safe and sticking to the shadows, huh?”

“I had to do it! Come on, look at the kid. He’s passed out from shock.” It was true. The previously sobbing boy was currently out cold as he dangled from the position that he’d been thrown over Hunk’s shoulder.

“Wait. If that’s a kid… does that make us kidnappers? I mean, if he has parents or some sort of legal guardian of course.” They both shared a look. So maybe they hadn’t exactly thought this through well enough.

“Er… it’s-it’s fine. We’ll figure it out later. Let’s just focus on getting to Pidge’s place. The faster we do, the better. Every time we jump across the rooftop I’m reminded of far up we are and it just makes me want to puke.”

“If you do so, please, for the love of the amount of time I spend on my fabulous hair and skin, do it in the other direction.”

“… You keep on referring to your hair and skin like that, I’ll be sure to pull you in closer for a front seat row.”

“Hunk. Buddy. My bestest friend in the entire kingdom, country, continent and world. You wouldn’t, right?”

“Watch me.”

The guards lost sight of them after Lance drew a particular spell that left their feet frozen to where they had landed. It meant that they didn’t have to deal with anymore trouble as they slowly found their way to Pidge’s small hideout tucked away in one the more secluded and dodgy corners of the kingdom.

Life hadn’t always been like this. Lance could remember a time of peace where the kingdom had flourished under the rule of the Altean royal family. Ever since the monarchy had been overthrown and conquered by emperor Zarkon, the whole kingdom had gone to shit. Quite literally. King Alfor had been the first to die. Publicly beheaded in front of them all. After that, people were simply dragged from their homes and executed under the sentence of plotting against the control of the Galran empire, of course courtesy of the emperor’s paranoia. His son was no better, having chosen to entertain himself by picking and choosing champions from among the people to throw into the arena. No one had ever come back from that wretched place, not even remains were granted to the grieving families. It was seen as the ultimate death sentence. To fight until you died.

Part of the reason that they were conquered was because of the kingdom’s sheltering of the Balmerans. The Balmera, the large creatures which the Balmerans looked after were capable of growing crystals upon their backs, crystals which could be harvested for quintessence. The Alteans and the Balmerans were respectful to the animals, only ever extracting small amounts through rituals that were scheduled at certain times of the year. The energy that was harvested was used to power the technological devices throughout the city. As soon as Zarkon had assumed power, the Balmerans had been enslaved and forced to regularly harvest the Balmera in order to fulfil a monthly quota of quintessence. This, the emperor used to fuel the weapons that he used to wage war upon the neighbouring kingdoms. It was his ultimate goal to achieve world-wide conquest.

There had been revolts attempted in the past but all of them had been brutally and violently shut down. Those who dared to voice their support were publicly executed, their bodies left to rot in the city square. The purpose for which had been clear: Should anyone attempt to fight against Zarkon’s oppressive rule, they would be silenced. Permanently.

Pidge’s hideout or the place that Lance had dubbed as the ’Nest of the Pigeon’ was quite a walk away from the marketplace. It was hard to reach and it took quite a bit of street knowledge and much more physical ability to reach. True to it’s given name, it was nestled up in a large clock tower, right behind the large clock, and it was something that you could only get to if you either had the codes from Pidge or the balls to climb straight up from the ground to the top. Or in Lance’s case, a quickly drawn magic circle would also do the trick, granted that when they arrived in the destined area, a large gust of wind had papers swirling everywhere. As they arrived, they hadn’t had to look for the owner, she was already standing in front of them with a look that screamed that she was about ready murder them.  


“Pidge. How’s my favourite tech whiz?” Lance had started off, crossing his fingers and hoping that he’d be able to trust his mouth to get him out of whatever he or Hunk had done to piss her off. That hadn’t worked at all, evidence of that shown in the way he’d had to dodge a mug aimed at his head. She must’ve been in a worser mood then he’d initially anticipated. Pidge had been unsettled ever since Matt and her father had disappeared without a trace. The two older Holts had loyalties towards the Altean cause but they’d never really acted upon it, so it was even stranger when they’d gone, their capture hadn’t been announced and no execution had ever occurred. So Pidge was left to search for them herself.

“Don’t even start Lance, you say anything else and I’ll have you making out with that wrench. I’ve already been notified of what you pulled at the market. ” He immediately put both his hands up in an act of mock-surrender.

Pidge was much smaller than he remembered, her clothes fitting not as well as they should have been, but then again, nowadays barely any of them were eating as much as they should have been. Dark circles around her eyes and hands shaky from the lack of caffeine. He’d have to stop by more often to make sure that she at least partook in the expected nutrients. It was quite a shame that he couldn’t just plug her into the nearest power point or set her outside to photosynthesise. Prices for food had gone up again and thinking that the taxes were going to go down was the sort of crazy that would have you sent to the nearest healers ward.

They were all suffering, one way or another, their own respective jobs making it even more difficult to make ends meet. Hunk was facing bankruptcy, without ingredients, his kitchen wasn’t able to open and he wasn’t able to bring in any customers. It was all just one big vicious circle. Pidge didn’t have any technology to look after, Zarkon had not provide the citizens with any quintessence of any sort, and it wasn’t long before everyone’s technology stopped running altogether. They’d been practically forced back into the dark ages. Lance was making little money himself, selling the milk that Kaltenecker would periodically make and sometimes turning to sleight of the hand tricks instead.

Magic had been an absolute no-no. It had been banned, of course, with the accompanied punishment of death. Yeesh. Nowadays everything ended with death. He could be found jaywalking and the guards would find someway to bring him to the gallows. They may be mentally challenged at times but the reasons in which they brought people in were nearing sheer ridiculousness. Just this week alone he’d seen people dragged away because they had taken too long to get their coins out of their purses. That in itself was already anxiety inducing without those blood thirsty men hyperventilating down your neck. The only people who were allowed to use magic were the druids and because of the sudden esoteric nature of magical theory, in the past ten years none of the magical talent that had been found among the people were allowed to be nurtured.

Hunk had set the kid down on one of the tattered couches and was frenetically going through Pidge’s kitchen in order to find something that he could prepare for lunch. He decided to busy himself with sorting through the sheets of paper that were strewn throughout the room. He knew he was probably messing with what Pidge viewed as an ‘organised system’ but anymore of this he’d probably slip on something and land on his back. The conversation (see: argument badly concealed as banter) that they were having on what sound the guard’s new sword blasters sounded-

“It’s like paow paow paow!”

“No Lance, I think you mean- pyow pyow pyow… pyyyyew!”

“That sounds like fireworks-“ He deadpanned only to have Pidge interrupt.

“Technically they’re more like pachew pachew pachew.”

The conversation soon dissolved, despite the argument not having been settled. The only noise that could be heard was the imposing tick of the large clock, the scrape of a pan on a stove, the whisper of paper and the far in between sound of a mug being set down.

Lunch had been quite the interesting event. He’d had to wrestle with Pidge in order to drag her over the table so they could sit down and eat together. There had also been another argument given by a certain chef on the goodness of vegetables and how the both he and Pidge should learn to appreciate greens and the added nutrients that came with them. That had been enough to wring groans from the both of them. It wasn’t until they had just about to finish when the kid finally woke up with quite an undignified squeak.

Instinctively, and quite unfortunately for him, he’d been thrust forward in front of the boy and forced to talk. Damn his gregariousness. It was both a blessing and a curse. The child looked like he was about to pass out again as he wildly glanced about the room.

“Ah, good morning kid! You gave us quite the scare y’know. Passed out just like that after Hunk flung you over his shoulder. Might I add, the pitch in which your screams reached were legendary.” Trust him to talk to children. The kid seemed to have calmed down after being blasted by his rambling, well, it was either that or his incessant and entirely habitual nervous tic of finger gunning as he talked.

“Where am I?”

“Ah, very good question. You’re in my wonderful friend Pidge’s hideout or, as like to call it, the pigeon’s nest!” At the judgemental reaction he got, he faltered, especially after he got hit over the head by said person he’d just mentioned before being dragged backwards.

“No names. Just because he’s a kid doesn’t mean that he could not be some spy employed by Zarkon to drag us all out. I mean, the kid just happened to be caught by guards while both you and Hunk were in the market?” Pidge glanced back at the boy, who was currently being enveloped in a hug from Hunk, “It just seems dodgy.”

“Pidge, it’s fine. The kid doesn’t exactly scream dangerous. Besides, if anything points otherwise, I can always hit him with a memory spell. I mean, I don’t know if I can control how much of the events that he’ll forget but I can maybe try and fix it afterwards if it gets too drastic.”

By the time that both of them had turned back, Hunk was still talking with the boy. True to his friend’s friendly disposition, the kid had warmed up pretty quickly. “His name is Chulatt. He used to be-“

“I used to be one of the serving boys for Princess Allura.” The kid had hesitantly finished the rest of Hunk’s sentence, awkwardly fiddling with the hem of his shirt as he looked up at them.

The three of them looked at each other before looking back down at Chulatt, it was Pidge who had voiced their thoughts, “So, we’re guessing that your parents aren’t here anymore?”

Chulatt nodded, “They were killed in Zarkon’s raid of the palace. Father was slain trying to help the king and the princess escape, while mother died with the queen.”

Hunk, being the big softie that he was, already looked like close to tears, his lower lip already beginning tremble as he asked, “So, you don’t have anyone to look after you?”

There was a slow shake of a head and a sob that had him shifting uncomfortably on his feet. Poor kid didn’t have any other place to stay or any people that to go back to. He understood the feeling well.

“You can come back and stay with me.” He offered. He had a bit of space back in his living quarters and there wasn’t anything bad about having someone to talk to in the late hours of night when his insomnia was at its worst.

Chulatt’s face lit up and he nodded enthusiastically, “That would be great Uncle Lance.”

The offended look on his face made must’ve been obvious because he could hear the badly concealed laughter from behind him, “I’m not old enough to be warranted to be called mister. Just Lance would be fine.”

“But your clothes make you look like it..?”

It had taken all of his bruised dignity to ensure that he didn’t just try and take a running leap off the clock tower then and there. It was to his complete and utter mortification that Pidge and Hunk were now hooting with laughter, it was even worse when Hunk tried to pat him on the shoulder, “Look, he didn’t say it was your face, it’s just your clothes. You can always change them-“

The mock seriousness on his friend’s face shattered when they all heard the kid quietly whisper, “And it’s also kind of in the way that you style your hair.”

It was there that he snapped, covering his hair with both of his hands, “It’s supposed to look dashing! Dashing and cool and attractive to people no matter if they be male or female!” Watching the grin that slowly spread across Chulatt’s face was well worth the embarrassment that he faced for it all.

They talked well into the night. He’d managed to find some blanket that smelt nice and clean enough to wrap Chulatt in before sending him off to bed. Well if you could count bed as snuggled up amongst the myriad of working to broken machinery Pidge had piled up in one corner of the room. After that, it was only a matter of time before they all fell asleep, tired from the events that had transpired that day. Hunk had been the first one among them to fall into the clutches of sweet oblivion, snoring from where he lay in front of the crackling fire place- he still had no idea how Pidge had managed to build that into the wall, there was a lot of fire hazards just fluttering around them room if you know what I mean. The lack of caffeine pumping through her system meant that Pidge had been the next to fall, drooling over her empty mug, one hand still outstretched and curled around a sheet of paper.

Lance did not fall asleep until well into the morning. His eyelids starting to droop as a ding reverberated through the room. It was 2 in the morning. So the growl that tore itself from his throat when he was forcefully yanked backwards was justified. Even more so when a blade was pressed right against his throat. He must’ve been still half-asleep because he froze in his place as soon as he spotted the very pretty blue grey eyes of his attacker.

That moment hadn’t lasted long because his assailant started to talk, the death grip he currently had on Lance’s wrist meant that he did not have much leeway to work with, “Who are you? And how much is Zarkon paying you to kidnap Her Highness’ charges?!”

What. Even. Was. This. “I’m pretty sure the person you need is in the next building, bud.” His words seemed to have no effect because the stranger’s grip did not relent at all. So much fighting in such a little time frame. He might as well send fireworks up into the sky announcing, ‘Magic User Here. Please Send Guards To Kill Him.’ It was only luck and the element of surprise that enabled him to whip his head backwards and hit the attacker on the nose, well judging from the crack and the groan that happened right after his movement anyways.

They wrestled about on the floor, he was at a big disadvantage here, melee was something that he sucked at, he didn’t exactly have enough mana left to pull up another spell so soon and- and the guy had a friggin knife on him. A very big knife too. Like if he got stabbed by said knife he wasn’t going to be walking anywhere soon.

Pidge must’ve woken up, because suddenly the room flashed with a brilliant light and the entirety of it was illuminated. There was a lot of screaming and yelling and the sound of tables and chairs being overturned. At one distinct moment he heard Hunk yell, “Chulatt no!”

He’d just taken a wicked uppercut to the jaw and was nursing his split lip, having just managed to smash a teapot over the guy’s head when the blue-haired kid ran in front of them, flinging both his hands out as if to stop his attacker. Lance had immediately panicked, already racing forward to grab the boy and pull him back and away from harm’s way when the stranger stopped. Tilting his head in a way that spoke volumes of how confused he was, despite having the lower half of his face covered. “Chulatt?”

The boy looked as confused as they all were, stepping forward and mirroring his head the way the man had his, “Keith?”

As much as he didn’t want to Lance gave into the urge to just bury his face into his hands and groan.


	2. Cirque du Soleil mY aSs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And I’m back with chapter number 2  
> Whoo what a rush  
> Tbh 90% of this chapter is just banter

So there Lance was. Standing there with one hand still clamped tightly across his mouth as he tried to staunch the blood that just seemed to be determined to burst from his lip. Chulatt hadn’t budged from his spot between him and… Keith. He could already feel disdain and just plain ‘I don’t like you’ curling up within him. Whoever this person was, they were just not going to get along. At all. Hunk and Pidge stood to the side of the room, Pidge wielding a wrench whilst Hunk had already began to roll up his own sleeves. No matter how strong a person was, there was no way he’d be able to take the three of them once. Chulatt must’ve noticed what they were about to do because he seemed to become even more determined to clear up the big misunderstanding that had just been unveiled in front of them. 

 

“Keith. They’re friends. They saved me from the guards.” 

 

“Those guards could have been decoys. You know full well that Zarkon is ready to go to whatever lengths for information regarding our actions! I mean, look at them, no matter how weak and unassuming they look they’re still capable of posing some sort of threat.” 

 

That was a low blow. His initial gut feeling on the guy was right. Ignoring Chulatt’s protests, he strode up to the stranger and pulled him forward by the collar of his stupid black shirt, “Look _Keith_ , if that even is your name and not some crappy made-up codename, I don’t appreciate the way that you talk. We saved your little friend back there and if it hadn’t been for us, he wouldn’t even be here to begin with.” 

 

“I had it all under control. If you hadn’t pulled off that freaky water show back there all of those guys would’ve had their throats slit as soon as they’d ventured beyond the marketplace.” Keith roughly shoved him back, he would’ve landed on his ass had it not been for Hunk rushing forward to catch him before he fell. They both glared at each other. It was clear that whatever he was feeling for the ninja costume wearing man, it was mutual and it was only fair that he voiced such.

 

“At least I’m not the one running around looking like some demented ninja!” 

 

“Ninja- Ninja?! I’m an assassin! It just happens that my usual robes weren’t suited to climbing up the friggin huge tower that you were all hiding up.” 

 

“Well, well- if you weren’t such a crappy assassin then you wouldn’t have had to change clothes to begin with!” 

 

After a while, their insults started to dip into the playground variety- “At least I don’t have some stupid mullet on my head.” It showed no signs of stopping until Hunk stepped in, gesturing to Chulatt who had fallen silent waiting for them to finish. It only seemed fitting that the both of them did so together… by crossing their arms in total unison. 

 

Even that action had them both glaring and ready to go another round, luckily, Chulatt having had enough of it all finally decided to speak up, turning to Keith as he did, “I think it’s best that we bring them back to the castle.” 

 

Keith startled forward, shaking free of whatever angsty brooding he’d been focussed on to shake his head at what the boy had just said, “Hell no. There is no way that I’m doing that. They could be spies! There’s no way I’m going to open our position so blatantly.” 

 

Chulatt made a face before insistently pushing his argument forward, “Lance is a magic user. We need more on our side if we’re ever going to be able to bring together a force that’ll be able to fight against the druids that work under Zarkon.”

 

It was strange hearing such a high and piping voice talk so strategically, for a second, it felt as if he was stuck in some strange dream. Maybe this was just a dream. Maybe if he pinched himself really hard he’d wake up in his own bed. He pinched himself. Hard. The hiss of pain drew everyone’s attention to him, the looks on all their faces utterly bewildered at his strange action. Okay. Not a dream. Definitely not a dream. 

 

He cleared his throat, pretending that what had happened moments hadn’t happened at all, “Look, I don’t care about whatever you’re trying to do. I just want to make sure that Chulatt gets back to whoever his guardian is.” 

 

“Y-yeah! As soon as that happens we’re happy to pretend that we never saw anything to begin with.” As Hunk added to his reasoning, he remembered how much he loved how his friend always seemed to know the right time in a conversation to step forward and support him. If the situation hadn’t been so tense he would’ve grabbed the big guy and kissed him for it. 

 

His elation only shot up wards as Pidge rolled her eyes before nodding her assent, “Ditto to what the big guy said.” 

 

He gave them both a small smile before glaring back at Keith, “We have a deal, ninja man?” 

 

“For the last time I’m not a ninja!” Keith paused, seemingly to ponder what had just been discussed before slowly and hesitantly offering his hand, “As long as you stay out of my way the entire time. I don’t need some dead weight dragging me down.” 

 

That alone had him wondering if that sort of attitude helped the guy make any friends. Maybe there was just one big emo angst group that liked to get together once a week and spend their times dramatically stewing in darkened corners. As much as he wanted to smack that proffered hand away, he reached forward to shake it, tightening his grip as he did, “Same goes for you. My mana’s just about recovered and ready to send you to a new world of pain.” 

 

The hand that was gripping his tightened to an abnormal degree and it was only thanks to his sheer stubbornness that he did not pull back. When his hand was finally freed he couldn’t help but nurse it close to his body, checking to make sure that he still had all of his fingers and that nothing had been broken. It wasn’t just because of his need to ensure that his hands ‘transcended the peak of aesthetic’™ it was also more on the fact that if his hands were out of commission so was his magic. That in itself was terrifying enough. 

  
At this time it was clear that none of them were going to be able to go back to sleep, so they all crowded around Pidge’s dining table to try and discuss their next move. Keith was all for the hands on approach, “I have a carriage. We can use that to make it all the way to the castle.” 

 

“Yeah, but carriages don’t exactly scream ‘subtle’, does it? Especially when they are painted such an ugly colour.” Lance gestured outside the window, over at a carriage hidden just behind one of the building, its coat having been painted (in his honest opinion) a gaudy and very much offending shade of red. 

 

“The Greeks believed that red was the colour of heroism. Besides, if you want ugly, just look in the mirror.” 

 

He gasped, ready to throw in another insult when Pidge whacked him over the head, “Will you two just shut up. Honestly, you’d think that you two were more interested in thickening this electrifying  sexual tension than helping Chulatt get back to his home.” 

 

“Sex-sexual tension, why you-“ 

 

“Please, not in front of Chulatt. This cinammon roll needs to keep his innocence.” Hunk stopped the conversation from deviating any further, directing their looks downwards to where his hands were tightly clamped around the boy’s ears. Said boy didn’t even look all that bothered with what was happening all too focussed in trying to see if he could try and draw the perfect circle on one of the scrap pieces of paper on the table. 

 

(A/N: You and me both Chulatt. It’s simply a matter of time before I can free hand a perfect circle.))

 

He slumped back down in his chair, “Fine. Whatever,” He threw his hands up in the air giving up the chance to argue any further lest he give Pidge any further reason to kick his ass, “We’ll take Mr. Ninja’s way. But let me tell you, we’re going to get caught for sure.” 

 

Keith crossed his arms and huffed, “If we’re going to get caught, it’s going to be because the guards found you staring at your reflection in some shop mirror for too long.” 

 

It took a bit of time for all of them to prepare to leave. Pidge was convinced that she had to bring along half the room with her while Hunk seemed to be trying to shove as much of the food from the kitchen into his tiny rucksack. Keith was just stewing in the corner, so that pretty much left him to try and keep Chulatt occupied as all the preparations went underway. That had been achieved by the kid  somehow roping him into playing the very dangerous game that is ’The Floor is Lava.’ His is initial hesitation to play was proven very quickly; he almost toppled over when a very exuberant Chulatt clambered on top of his shoulders, in retrospect, the move would have worked had the boy not attempted to use his hair as the thing to anchor him.

 

By six, all the preparations were complete, well that is, (much to his chagrin) after having to spend a decent half hour trying to convince Hunk that they wouldn’t starve on their way to the supposed ‘castle’- 

 

“ _No_ Hunk, we don’t need those packets of sugar-“

 

“You _don’t_ seem to understand the catastrophes that you’re tempting. What happens if we get cornered by wolves that only eat sugar? What happens then, Lance? What? You’re going to turn to me and you’re going to be all like ‘Oh I’m sorry that I told you not to pack sugar and now we’re going to die. Good job me’ and then we’re just going to-“ 

 

“Pack the sugar. Just _pack_ it. So we can _leave_.” 

 

He tried his best to just ignore the triumphant look on Hunk’s face as he turned around. The journey back down the clock tower- ahem, correction the ‘Nest of the Pigeon’, was much easier, given that Pidge actually went to the effort in inputting the codes into the side elevator that she’d somehow managed to discreetly build into the fireplace. They were all tired by the time that they made it to the carriage, showing no care for any sort of propriety as they all tumbled onto the seats. It was only minutes before Hunk and Chulatt were snoring once more. Keith was up in the driver’s seat, as much as Lance didn’t trust him, he really had no idea how to ride a horse, let alone drive a carriage. It was against all his expectations that the carriage took off smoothly, barely rattling at all as it drove over the cobbled streets. 

 

Huh. He thought as leaned onto a snoring Hunk's shoulder. Maybe this whole journey wouldn’t be as bad as he thought it would. 

 

* * *

 

“I TOLD YOU WE’D BE CAUGHT. OH GODS AND GODDESSES THIS IS BECAUSE YOUR CARRIAGE IS FRIKKITY FRACKING RED!” 

 Why was the universe so dead set on trying to prove him  _wrong_? 

Lance held onto his seat so tightly his knuckles had gone white, banging one hand against the wall that  the driver’s seat was mounted on so he could at least show his displeasure at the situation that they- no Keith had gotten them into. The carriage was wildly swerving side to side as the assassin did his best to try and escape the angry swarm of guards that were following them. Pidge had wrapped herself tightly around the curtains of the carriage window and Chulatt was hanging onto her for dear life. Hunk, he didn’t even want to start with Hunk, the man had already been sick out the side of the window and looked just about ready to do so once more. 

 

“Out the window Hunk- I swear, I’m going to murder you if you even dare try to-“ The sound and very soon the smell of the vomit hitting the floor cut him off from continuing his sentence.

 

 This was one of the few times he envied Pidge’s smaller stature, she only had to lift her feet upwards to avoid the mess, Chulatt having done the same when he’d spotted the monstrosity that had just spewed from his friend’s mouth. He, unfortunately, had not been so lucky. Curse these lanky ass legs. There had been some awkward contorting so he’d managed to avoid touching most of it, though, his grip on the seats loosened every time Keith suddenly swerved or stopped.

 

 He was getting dangerously close to falling into the puddle of vomit when the carriage swung hard enough for him to use the momentum to sort of fling himself towards the carriage’s open window. Peeking outside as he did. That was definitely a huge number of guards following them and judging by the route that Keith had chosen to take, there was no way in hell they were going to be getting away without some sort of aid. 

  
“Oi, you ass! Slow down a bit so I can figure out some sort of spell to stop them.” He was glad that the other man quickly followed his orders even more so when there wasn’t any sarcastic quip that came along with it. He looked back inside the carriage, trying to find something to use so he could draw out a magic circle. His eyes stopped down at the puddle of vomit, grimacing at what substance he might have to use should he be desperate enough. Luckily, it had not come to that because despite all the shaking of the carriage, the abnormally numerous amount of quills and such that Pidge somehow stuffed in her hair were all still in place. It was only a matter of grabbing one before he leant back outside the carriage and began to scribble. 

 

There had been plenty of close calls, as he drew magic circle after magic circle, one of those had been when Keith had made the horses shift onto the sidewalk, one of the wooden signs hanging above the stores had almost hit him right in the face had it not been for his reflexes. When he had finally finished with everything, he was pissed and righteously so. 

 

“Any time now would be great!” Keith called up from where he was sitting. He himself had dispatched some of the guards by throwing daggers aimed straight at their throats. Each time the man had unleashed a knife, it had flown true and not once had it missed a target. Hmph. He could do that to if he wanted to. 

 

“Now’s not the time to daydream, Lance. Do it after when we’re not so close to being killed.” Pidge was alternating between yanking on the hem of his shirt to trying to Chulatt help Hunk be sick out of the other carriage window. 

 

“I’m going. I’m going.” He muttered as he started to press mana down into the circles that he’d drawn. The feeling that bubbled up inside him as he watched one particularly well done fire spell send guards and their horses sprawling across the street could only be described as sheer sadistic satisfaction. As he fought off more and more guards, Keith finally seemed to have figured out a newer route they could take. It was with an energy that he hadn’t expected of such tired carriage pulling horses that they suddenly picked up a burst of speed, the carriage swerving one last time before it came to a stop just inside a well hidden alleyway. He sighed as he slumped back into his seat.

 

A well aimed kick at the door had him unceremoniously tumbling to his ass outside. The other occupants of the carriage having just been as desperate as him to get out fell right on top of him. He was pretty sure he heard something painfully crack as they did. He hoped that whatever it was, it wan’t his back. He hadn’t even had time to lecture Keith on proper road control, he was still mad at the man, who evidently was still wearing his stupid ninja garb, stupid face still stupidly covered as he bustled them into a nearby deserted looking alcove. 

 

“We don’t have much time. We need to blend in and quickly. We need options.” 

 

“I don’t know. Maybe we should all get back into the carriage and hope that the guards don’t try and _kill_ us again.” Lance couldn’t help the jab, after all, they wouldn’t have been in this mess had they at least tried to search for other plans instead of going with this one. 

 

Hunk, forever the voice of reason, stepped forward, using one hand to gently push him backwards, “There’s a circus in town. We can hide in with the rest of the performers.” 

 

“They’re over by the wharves now. I did some intel collection on them.” Pidge spoke up then, the last bit of the sentence had them all raising her eyebrows at her, which immediately had her leaping to try and defend her reasoning, “It’s just strange to have circuses come into the kingdom. Zarkon’s paranoia had them all banned from the kingdom because he thought they were the perfect places to incite rebellions.” 

 

“Good ol’ Zarkies paranoia,” He commented before clapping his hands together, “Alright then, it's settled- let’s go to the circus. I bet you, if we play our cards right, maybe the direction that they’re headed will line up with wherever this ‘castle’ place is.” That had been enough to have Keith rolling his eyes at him. Chulatt’s excitement soon had him forgetting about it, the kid was over the moon at the prospect of being able to at least see a bit of the show before they had to leave. 

 

It took a bit of manoeuvring and even more back tracking before they were able to find the place where the apparent circus was. He tried his best not to cringe at the colours as they walked through the place, he’d never been fond of going near places like this. He shuddered as he thought back to the times his siblings had thought it funny to try and jump scare him dressed up as clowns. As a child he’d had a phobia of them, now he could sort of handle them, as long as they maintained a respectable distance of course. 

 

Talking to the ringmaster had been daunting, he’d had to come up with a very good reason as to why a group of mismatched and suspiciously stinky (thanks a lot Hunk) strangers were asking to join the circus. It took a few winks and a bit of flirting to finally get the man to see through to his point. They’d all had to do some sort of audition to try and show that they weren’t trying to mess around with him. Hunk and Chulatt had been immediately written off, with the former being assigned to help with the vendors selling food outside the tent and the latter having been thought too young to do a proper act had been assigned to help look after some of the circus’ animals. Pidge had offered her assistance in helping with the lights and such during the show which had left him and Keith. Keith had obviously gone with knife throwing, his accuracy having the ringmaster clapping in obvious delight. Magic was clearly out of the question and after having seen some of the performers, sleight of hand would be too common. 

 

The next best thing he had at his disposal was acrobatics. So acrobat away he did. It had been quite a while since he’d done anything quite as strenuous as some of the tricks that he showed off, but the years that had passed had done nothing to affect his flexibility. He finished the impromptu routine arms pointed upward and legs splayed outwards in the splits. It was expected, but it hadn’t stopped him from sighing in relief when the ringmaster voiced his amazement. They were given the time of the show and a map of where they were to go before the man walked off. As Lance got up, he didn’t miss the look that Keith was giving him. 

 

Wanting to embarrass the ninja, he threw him a grin, ensuring that he made a show of stretching out just a _tad_ bit further, arching his back as he got up, “If you’re going to stare, you might as well commission an artist to draw you a picture. It lasts longer.” The spluttered response was well worth the slight twinge of pain he felt in his leg as he got up to his feet. Next time, he was going to properly stretch out before doing something like that. 

 

* * *

 

When he’d been a boy, one of his wilder aspirations in life had been to run away and join the circus. It seemed to be some sort of wondrous dream come true for him, as the middle child in a family of eleven, being able to suddenly bask amongst the attentions of hundreds and thousands of people was a lifestyle worth living. Now, as he watched the various performers go about getting ready for the show that was about to be put on, he couldn’t help but realise that child him had never thought about the countless other things you had to do before you actually went out to perform. 

 

He was about to use the time to try and get a nap before the show, sleep was by far the best remedy to soothing his frazzled nerves. He had not expected a huffing and very red faced Chulatt to scamper up to him just as he’d been about to do so. The kid had been able to work with animals, of course, he would have been very excited about it too, enough to try and brag about it? Eh, not so much. He sat up on the crate he was laying on, waiting to be hit by a flurry of excited babbling. Chulatt frowned at him, glancing around as if expecting someone to just suddenly jump in out of the shadows. 

 

The boy beckoned for him to come closer, feeling like humouring him, he did so jumping off the crates as he asked, “So what’s this about?” 

 

“The lion. They have the blue lion.” 

 

“ _A_ blue lion.” Lance corrected him, “It’s not surprising, really. Circus’ always have lions. They could have painted this one blue for all we know.” 

 

“No,” Chulatt hissed, frustration flooding his face as he stamped his tiny foot against the ground, “You don’t _understand._ It’s a ginormous magical lion.” 

 

He’d told his fair share of fibs during his childhood, but seriously, Chulatt was trumping everything that he’d ever dared to try. The sheer audacity of it all was proof enough that the kid definitely had balls. 

 

“What’s this about a magical lion?” A new voice spoke up, Pidge called down to them as she precariously dangled on a suspended balcony above them. Her hands were currently tangled in what seemed to be wires linked up to whatever crappy lighting system that was being used. The both of them jumped, having not been expecting her sudden appearance. 

 

“Chulatt says that they have a ‘ginormous magical lion’ tucked away somewhere.” 

 

“Interesting,” She murmured, “Magical, you say?” He simply nodded at her words. “If you’re thinking that he’s fibbing, he’s not. I caught sight of it when I was trying to help one of the stage hands reroute the lights.” 

 

Keith appeared, dragging what seemed to be a very uncomfortable looking Hunk behind him. “What’s all this about?” 

 

“Chulatt says that they have a ‘ginormous magical lion’ tucked away somewhere.” He repeated what he’d said to Pidge to them. 

 

Chulatt seemed to be getting more upset as each minute passed because he stomped his foot again, “We _need_ to save it.” 

 

For once, Keith acted reasonable and shook his head, “No. We can’t. Imagine what _they_ would think if we turned up to the castle with that lion. It’s not subtle at all. It’s huge and it’s blue. We’re already having enough trouble getting away as it is.” 

 

“Oh so now you think something’s not subtle, huh? Whatever happened to that hideous red contraption you called a carriage?” 

 

“Why you-“ Keith looked like he was just about to throttle him when Hunk managed to unwound himself from the man’s grip. 

 

“Can we at least properly see the lion first before making a decision?” It was the combined power of both Hunk and Chulatt’s puppy faces that he and Keith agreed. 

 

They all followed Chulatt, the kid seemed to have a knack for remembering how to get through the winding maze of people and stalls, so it didn’t take long for them to get to the tent the supposed lion was in. There had been guards at the front of it, but a quickly drawn spell from him and a sharp jab from Keith’s hand had them passed out. They did get into an argument as to who it was that had incapacitated the most. 

 

“If you _hadn’t_ leapt at that one I would’ve totally gotten him with that spell.” 

 

“No _fucking_ way. Your aim would’ve been way off-“ 

 

“Mind your fucking language in front of the kid-“

 

“ _Pidge_.”

 

“Sorry.” 

 

It would’ve just all gone into one big vicious circle and repeated itself had it not been for the roar that practically had the hair at the back of his neck prickle alarmingly. There it was. Very big and very blue. His sense of self-preservation had never been one to keep him safe, so he found himself instinctively stepping past the rest of his cowering group, reaching one hand out to stroke at the snarling lion, who was currently backed up against its cage. For a few scant moments it felt as if he was underwater, the panicked calls of his name and for him to stop, not reaching him at all. Yes, he could hear them but he couldn’t seem to turn around to address them. 

 

The lion continued to snarl at him. He flinched as it leapt forward, teeth menacingly glinting in the low lighting of the tent. His life almost flashed in front of his eyes, well, it would have maybe if he’d kept his eyes open. At the lack of anticipated pain, he dared to open them once more, sighing as he watched as it- uh, correction she, nuzzled her head against his hand almost lovingly. He was just about ready to bring his other hand to scratch under her neck when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. 

 

They were all snapped out of their current stupor, Hunk hurrying towards him to grab him so they could look for a hiding spot. The tent was bare, save for the cage, a few stacks of hsy and the hulking mass of the now very affectionate lion. 

 

When the ringmaster walked in, he was conversing with a man donning a uniform of the royal Galran guard. The ringmaster looked nervous, sweat dripping down his forehead as he gestured to the lion, “See, it is as I said. The blue lion.” 

 

The guard, went up to the cage, thrusting his arm inside it like Lance had done just moments before, chuckling as she lunged forward, teeth snapping in the place his arm had just been hovering. “I see. Emperor Zarkon will pay you well for this.” 

 

“Th-thank you very much.” The ringmaster bowed, his face flushed with glee, before it twisted into a more displeased expression, “The guards that you loaned me have gone and passed out after some hard drinking. It is a wonder that the beast hasn’t been stolen yet.” 

 

The man shook his head, bowing slightly, “My apologies for such. They shall punished in accordance to their actions. A new set of guards will be sent up after the show. I suppose this thing is being made to perform tonight?” 

 

“Yes! I have trained it myself. You would do very well to stay and watch. Should you want it, I’ll have them open a box for you.” 

 

“I shall see.” 

 

The pair of them eventually left the tent. It was only then that they found themselves all sighing in relief. It was lucky that the lion had mostly stayed within the same spot, somehow they’d all managed to hide behind her throughout the entire exchange. 

 

This time, it was Lance stepping forward, the glint of his eyes an exact mirror image of what Chulatt’s had been, “We need to save her.” Not even Keith stepped up to try and disagree with him. 

 

* * *

 

There hadn’t been enough time to do any proper planning. The most concrete thing that they’d come up with was to try and steal the lion during the show. Hunk and Chulatt would helpPidgeoverride the brightness of the lights. Keith would be in charge of making sure that no one would reach them during their whole escape attempt and Lance, er, Lance wasn’t sure what the hell he was going to do. The most he could do was wing it and hope for the best. 

 

The bravado that he’d built up over the time it took for the show to start didn’t really help him at all. The outfit change he’d been forced to go through had left him in some skin tight and sequin-y costume that had left him feeling quite exposed. He’d pissed off the stagehands that were waiting along side him because he had to keep asking if he could have a towel to wipe his sweaty hands on.  When he heard his name being called out, he was just about ready to pass out then and there. On shaky legs he began to make his way out onto the circus ring, having to pass by Keith who was currently in the process of finishing his act. 

 

Focus was what he had needed. But he found all of that being blown away as soon as he spotted Keith. Goddamn. What the _hell_. There was no way someone’s bare face could be so sinfully hot. That was not fair. Not fair at all. The man already had a great body, but with the sudden change of costume that toned stomach was even more emphasised. And _what even_ were those thighs? He was choking on his own spit as Keith’s eyes met with his. Oh the intensity of that stare. He felt like dunking his head into the nearest barrel and just screaming his head off. _Or you could convince him to have you screaming in other ways._ Great. His thirsty ass was going to sabotage this whole rescue attempt. Unbelievable. 

 

It was by sheer willpower alone, that he made himself smile, offering the other man a small nod before he began to clamber up the trapeze. That in itself had been a last minute change of plan, the actual trapeze artist having fractured her wrist just an hour before the show had started. The ring master completely ignored his protests that he’d never had any sort of training with a trapeze. He struck as pose as he reached the top, smiling as he tried his best to try and wipe his hands on his costume. One of the stagehands handed him the bar, whispering a quite good luck as they did. All he could do was nod, eyes glued down at the floor, his stomach reeling when he noticed the lack of netting underneath it. 

 

He held on tightly to the bar, stepping one foot off the platform. He took one breath. And another. It was too late to back out now. His heart was beating in his ears and he could just about feel his hands starting to sweat again. Another breath. Just breathe. His heart continued to pound. He took the final step off the platform, his fear spiking as he felt himself falling. But then he flew. 

 

It was like he was free. At the realisation that he hadn’t fallen and broken his neck, he couldn’t help but resist the whoop of delight that left him, he almost missed the flip he was supposed to do onto the incoming trapeze bar from the other side but his elation only grew when he did so. The crowd was cheering, the sound of their clapping and whistling only growing louder as he spotted the lion being brought out. 

 

Now was the time for them to move. A quick thumbs up from him to a waiting Chulatt meant that he only had to wait a few moments before the lights around him flared spectacularly. There was a joint hiss of pain from the crowd as they instinctively covered their eyes. He’d closed his eyes before that had happened, when he was sure that the lights had gone back to normal, he opened them once more, just in time to see Keith throw a knife that sliced through the thick rope that had been tied around the blue lion’s neck. He was already hurrying towards it, Pidge, Hunk and Chulatt having descended from their designated spots doing the same thing. 

 

It was almost hilarious the way that they nervously circled around the lion, frozen in their places as the ringmaster screamed, “GUARDS!” Chulatt the fantastic and utterly insane child he was had already began to try and swing himself over the lion’s back. The other three soon to caught up to what was happening, Blue- he was going to call her that now, it seemed too much of a hassle and frankly quite offensive to keep referring to her as ‘the lion’- seemed to have caught on as well because she crouched down to try and make it easier for them. 

 

When the four of them were seated on her she began to take a running start, Hunk having realised that they were still missing a very important person looked up where he still was and screeched out in panicked voice, “Lance!” At the speed in which they were running, if he just- it was with a prayer on his lips that he stood up on the trapeze and jumped, completing a near perfect 360 degree flip before he landed right on top of Blue’s back. His ass and his back (not to mention his unmentionables) hurt from the rough landing, the soft fur having done nothing to cushion the height in which he dropped from. He didn’t have a lot of time to soak in all of the pain he was feeling because he had a hand whack down onto his back. Hissing he turned around, just about ready to give whoever had done that a piece of his mind. 

 

There was Keith. With a huge grin across his face. “That was amazing!” 

 

He puffed his chest out, flicking his hair back dramatically, “Of course it was. As expected as someone who is your rival.” Uh, not exactly what he’d meant to say. It was too late to retract his words. Besides giving him a weird look, Keith didn’t say anything else having become focussed on hanging on as Blue ploughed through the guards that had began to chase after them. Blue may have been a destructive force of power but power didn’t mean anything when you had like fifty guards pointing to their swords at you. Even more so when said swords were capable of blasting energy beams that could fatally injure you if they hit. 

  
Despite having only ridden Blue for a few minutes, Lance had already figured out that she left him steer her if he gently pulled at the fur on top of her head, “Okay, I think I got it.” Though…his pulling hadn’t stopped her from running at the mob of crazy sword wielding guards. 

 

“Lance, uhhhh, buddy, I don’t think it’s smart to run it that particular direction.” 

 

Pidge was yanking at the back of his costume, causing the stretchy material to painfully snap against his side whenever she let go of it, “No. No. No. No. No!” 

 

Keith was already wielding a pack of throwing daggers that he’d somehow pulled from somewhere and was already throwing it at the nearest bunch of guards, that grin still on his face, “Yep.” 

 

There was an almighty roar and for a split second Lance thought that it must have been some benediction because the heavens opened to answer- Gods and Goddesses they were _flying_. This feeling didn’t even compare to what it felt like on the trapeze. The delight soon faded to utter terror because Blue decided that she was gonna have none of his directions and went straight ahead, twirling into some hellish backflip that had Hunk groaning from where he’d slung himself over Blue. As if that hadn’t been terrifying enough, there was a sudden burst of speed, which had them all screaming and clinging onto each other for dear life. If Chulatt hadn’t been tightly slotted between him and Pidge then the boy would’ve fallen off a long time ago. 

 

“You are the worst lion rider ever!” Keith’s insults lacked any sort of bite, but Lance answered any way.

 

“One! People don’t even ride lions. And two! I don’t even know how to ride a horse! How the hell am I supposed to know how to ride a huge magical lion?!” His words only seemed to spur Blue to speed up even more. 

 

“Where are you even going?!”

 

“I-I don’t know! She’s doing her own thing!” 

 

“Why are you listening to the huge magical lion anyway?!” Hunk jumped into the conversation as well, quickly followed by Pidge who just seemed to be yelling for the sake of it, “Why are you all yelling?!” 

 

The landscape beneath them remained one messy and colourful blur. They flew on for quite a while before Blue apparently decided to land in front of a strange white looking castle…? Having become sick of her riders she shook herself sending each of them sprawling on the floor. Surprisingly, Chulatt was first on his feet, already moving towards the structure, Keith had just about done the same, leaving the rest of them confused and dazed where they’d landed.

 

 Blue roared once more, Hunk still pretty much terrified stumbled backwards pointing accusingly at her as he looked over at Lance, “See! See oh no- I knew she was going to eat us! Where’s my packets of sugar? I’ll throw them at her so we can run!” 

 

“What is the meaning of all of this?” A sharp voice rang out cutting through all the havoc that was being wrought. They all froze in their spots, as Lance looked up he was surprised to see the pretty lady from the market place. This time she was accompanied by a man with a very distinct looking moustache. His face remaining impassive as he looked upon them. 

 

“Just who are you?” The question left his lips unbidden, nevertheless it caught her attention, her gaze coming to rest on him. Chulatt, re-appeared with a gaggle of three other children, two of them boys, the last a girl. All of them, including a very unperturbed looking Keith bowed to her, their right hands pressed to their chests. 

 

It was Chulatt that came forward to properly introduce the lady, “Lance, Pidge and Hunk, I’d like to properly introduce to you Her Highness, Allura, former princess of the Altean kingdom and current leader of the Voltron rebellion.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wrote itself.  
> Idk what happened.  
> Also- comment. Fulfil my will to live. dO iT


End file.
